War, recession, fighting with HMOs--these are worrisome times, to be sure. But Americans have felt STRESSED before, as TIME noted in a 1983 cover story that focused on the ways Americans were finding to relax.

In the past 30 years, doctors and health officials have come to realize how heavy a toll stress is taking on the nation's well-being. According to the American Academy of Family Physicians, two-thirds of office visits to family doctors are prompted by stress-related symptoms. At the same time, leaders of industry have become alarmed by the huge cost of such symptoms in absenteeism, company medical...